Planning for Random Acts of Green

By Robert Mackenzie

Published August 29, 2017

After creating a social media movement educating the public about the difference they can make in fighting climate change, Jessica Correa will be coming to Haliburton to share with participants how they can get involved in their community.

Correa was studying for her master’s degree in sustainability studies at Trent University when she came up with the idea for Random Acts of Green, a social media account that raises awareness about environmental action by creating, capturing and sharing green choices people make in their day-to-day activities.

Correa says the social media account – which is active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – was inspired by the Humans of New York series. Correa’s Random Acts of Green posts are usually accompanied by a picture and a brief description of some of the simple, everyday green choices that people have sent to her or that she has captured herself in the Peterborough area.

One of the account’s recent popular posts was of a man who brought a reusable plate to Peterborough’s Ribfest instead of throwing out Styrofoam containers after everything he ate. During the height of the Pokémon Go craze last summer, Random Acts of Green was covered by CBC radio after Correa organized a garbage pickup that saw people in Peterborough pick up litter as they were walking around and playing the game.

“What really inspired me about combining social media with this awareness about climate change and about what you can do about it was that a lot of these challenges and a lot of these viral videos [is how]they really take off,” Correa said. “I thought that if we could combine all these different ideas, put it online, put it on social media, we could really create a movement and a community of change.”

On Sept. 12, Correa will be giving a presentation as part of Environment Haliburton’s latest enviro-cafe. The enviro-cafe talks are held on the second Tuesday of every month and aim to encourage a wide conversation while organizing collective and personal action through presentations on topical environmental issues, according to Environment Haliburton VP Terry Moore.

Correa says her presentation will focus on inspiring people and how to be a part of innovative forms of environmental messaging through social media. “The presentation is going to be about ways in which they can implement behaviour change, ways in which social media is a great platform and a great resource to inspire people to change their behaviour,” she said.

The Sept. 12 enviro-cafe will start at 7:30 p.m. at the Haliburton United Church, with time for questions to follow Correa’s presentation. The event is free of charge.

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